Retired N.J. State Police Maj. Gerald Lewis claims in a state lawsuit that he was targeted by Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes as part of a bogus, racially motivated internal investigation into an anonymous letter.
(Star-Ledger file photo)

TRENTON — The State Police launched a criminal investigation that appears to be related to its former head of minority recruitment before he filed a lawsuit in January alleging he was targeted in connection with a salacious letter about Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes, The Star-Ledger has learned.

The commander, Maj. Gerald Lewis, a 26-year veteran who was the public face of the force in the black community, was also recently visited by two FBI agents from Newark at his new job in North Carolina, though the bureau’s objectives were unclear, his attorney, George Daggett, said.

"They flew down, talked to my client, and flew back," Daggett said.

In his lawsuit, Lewis asserted that without any evidence, he was the target of a bogus, racially motivated investigation, ordered up by Fuentes, into the source of the anonymous letter in order to stop him from rising in the ranks and becoming the next superintendent.

The allegations prompted outrage from leaders of New Jersey’s black community, who worked closely with Lewis in the wake of the division’s racial profiling scandal, and acting state Attorney General John Hoffman said he would open an investigation.

The anonymous letter in question claims the colonel fathered a child with a mistress and was using a lieutenant to secretly ferry child support payments. Similar letters have been sent to The Star-Ledger, and the claims have not been substantiated.

New records recently obtained by the newspaper show the State Police’s investigation involving Lewis and the letter was not conducted as an administrative matter by internal affairs, but apparently as a criminal matter by the State Police’s Central Security Unit.

According to the State Police’s website, that unit is part of the Counter Terrorism Bureau and investigates threats against high-ranking state officials, including the governor, legislators, department heads and fellow troopers, such as the colonel.

As part of the investigation, at least one person familiar with Lewis was asked to complete a detailed and deeply personal 11-page questionnaire about him, his family background, health, education, social relationships, hobbies and behavior, according to a copy obtained by the newspaper.

Questions covered whether Lewis was religious, whether he ever expressed thoughts of suicide, his sleeping habits, his children, whether he had drug or alcohol problems, his preferred sexual acts, his sexual fantasies and his relationship with his wife.

The "General Assessment Questionnaire," which had the seal of the FBI on it, was to be returned to the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, and said a comprehensive, written report would be generated and returned to the requester.

It’s unclear if a completed questionnaire was ever sent, or if a report was ever generated.

The State Police recently confirmed the investigation was criminal in nature in responses to several recent Open Public Records Act requests.

The force recently denied a request by The Star-Ledger for the questionnaire, calling it a criminal investigatory record and citing an ongoing criminal investigation. For the same reason, the division denied a 37-page transcript of an interview conducted by troopers last year with Lewis about the letter, as well as four pages of notes from the interview taken by one of the detectives present.

The State Police also denied 172 pages of communications, including emails and text messages, related to the anonymous letter, Lewis and the investigation, calling them criminal investigatory records. The newspaper had sought all communications from June 1, 2013, to Jan. 17 of this year between the troopers assigned to investigate the case, Lt. Col. Matthew Wilson and Fuentes.

In April, after retiring and taking a job as police chief and police director at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., Lewis was visited by two FBI agents from Newark who asked him about the letter, his attorney, Daggett, said.

Daggett said he did not know whether the FBI was originally involved in the State Police’s investigation involving Lewis, or whether the bureau became involved after Lewis went public claiming that he had been illegally targeted by Fuentes.

He said he has not been contacted by federal authorities. A spokeswoman for the FBI declined comment, citing the bureau’s policy to neither confirm nor deny investigations. Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the attorney general, who oversees the State Police, said Hoffman’s review of the matter is continuing, but otherwise declined comment. A spokesman for the State Police, Capt. Stephen Jones, declined comment.

After 26 years on the force, Lewis said in his lawsuit, which is pending, that his career began to unexpectedly unravel last summer when the letter about Fuentes began to circulate. The lawsuit claims a similar letter appeared in 2009 and 2012, but no investigations were conducted.

The lawsuit claims that the investigation was ordered by Fuentes and was assigned to Lt. David Kushnir, who, with the consent of the colonel, "turned the investigation into the personal and professional life" of Lewis.

As part of the probe, the lawsuit claims, Fuentes ordered State Police technology experts to grant him access to Lewis’ emails and phone records, and that any questions about the investigation were to be forwarded to Wilson, who serves directly under the colonel.

On Oct. 13, Lewis was interviewed by Kushnir and another investigator, the lawsuit said.

"Are you ambitious?" Lewis claims he was asked.

"I am a black man in the New Jersey State Police, you’re damn right I am ambitious," Lewis replied, according to the lawsuit.

Lewis claims Fuentes "resented" his close ties with high-ranking state officials and wanted him to become the commander of Troop C, which is based in Hamilton Township and oversees central New Jersey.

"The purpose of offering the Troop C Major position to (Lewis) was to remove him from Division Headquarters and in that way, remove him from his work in the area of diversity and to guarantee that he would not be elevated to the position of colonel," the suit said.